Durga

==Worship and festivals==
Durga is worshipped in [[Hindu temple]]s across India and Nepal by Shakta Hindus.

The Vedic Texts concluded Durga alone to be the Supreme and the Absolute facet of Brahman,{{CN|date=January 2023}} as stated in the Devi-Atharvashirsha<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 February 2020 |title=Devi Atharvashirsha Stotram in Sanskrit |url=https://stotranidhi.com/en/sri-devi-atharvashirsha-in-english/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804070827/https://stotranidhi.com/en/sri-devi-atharvashirsha-in-english/ |archive-date=4 August 2022 |access-date=4 August 2022}}</ref><blockquote>यस्याः परतरं नास्ति सैषा दुर्गा प्रकीर्तिता ॥२४॥

She who is renowned by the name "Durga" is the being superior to whom, no one exists.

– [https://stotranidhi.com/en/sri-devi-atharvashirsha-in-english/ Devi Atharvashirhsa Upanishad], 24. </blockquote>Her temples, worship and festivals are particularly popular in eastern and northeastern parts of [[Indian subcontinent]] during Durga puja, Dashain and Navaratri.{{sfn|Wendy Doniger|1999|p=306}}{{sfn|James G Lochtefeld|2002|p=208}}<ref name="Melton2011">{{cite book|author=J Gordon Melton|title=Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lD_2J7W_2hQC&pg=PA239|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-206-7|pages=239–241|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217111816/https://books.google.com/books?id=lD_2J7W_2hQC&pg=PA239|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |year=2015 |title=Durga Puja – Hindu festival |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Durga-Puja |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=18 February 2017 |archive-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030161639/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Durga-Puja |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Durga puja===
{{Main|Durga Puja}}
[[File:A Durga festival collage.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|Durga festival images (clockwise from top): Durga Puja pandal with a Durga idol with 1&nbsp;million hands standing on top a bull's head to symbolize her victory over Mahishasura in [[Kolkata]], Dancing on Vijaya Dashami, women smearing each other with colour, and family get together for Dashain in Nepal.]]
As per the Markandeya Purana, Durga Puja can be performed either for 9 days or 4 days (last four in sequence). The four-day-long [[Durga Puja]] is a major annual festival in [[Bengal]], [[Odisha]], [[Assam]], [[Jharkhand]] and [[Bihar]].{{sfn|Wendy Doniger|1999|p=306}}{{sfn|James G Lochtefeld|2002|p=208}} It is scheduled per the Hindu luni-solar calendar in the month of ''Ashvina'',{{sfn|David Kinsley|1998|pp=106–108}} and typically falls in September or October. Since it is celebrated during Sharad (literally, season of weeds), it is called as Sharadiya Durga Puja or Akal-Bodhan to differentiate it from the one celebrated originally in spring. The festival is celebrated by communities by making special colourful images of Durga out of clay,{{sfn|David Kinsley|1997|pp=18–19}} recitations of ''Devi Mahatmya'' text,{{sfn|David Kinsley|1998|pp=106–108}} prayers and revelry for nine days, after which it is taken out in procession with singing and dancing, then immersed in water. The Durga puja is an occasion of major private and public festivities in the eastern and northeastern states of India.{{sfn|Wendy Doniger|1999|p=306}}{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|pp=172–174}}{{sfn|Lynn Foulston|Stuart Abbott|2009|pp=162–169}}

The day of Durga's victory is celebrated as [[Vijayadashami]] (Bijoya in Bengali), Dashain (Nepali) or [[Dussehra]] (in Hindi) – these words literally mean "the victory on the Tenth (day)".<ref>{{cite book |title= Religion & globalization: world religions in historical perspective |last= Esposito |first= John L. |author2=Darrell J Fasching |author3=Todd Vernon Lewis  |year= 2007  |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-517695-7 |page= 341  }}</ref>

This festival is an old tradition of Hinduism, though it is unclear how and in which century the festival began. Surviving manuscripts from the 14th century provide guidelines for Durga puja, while historical records suggest royalty and wealthy families were sponsoring major Durga puja public festivities since at least the 16th century.{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|pp=172–174}} The 11th or 12th century Jainism text ''Yasatilaka'' by Somadeva mentions a festival and annual dates dedicated to a warrior goddess, celebrated by the king and his armed forces, and the description mirrors attributes of a Durga puja.{{sfn|David Kinsley|1998|pp=106–108}}

The prominence of Durga puja increased during the [[British Raj]] in Bengal.<ref>{{cite web|title=Article on Durga Puja|url=http://online.assam.gov.in/web/durga-puja|access-date=11 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228091628/http://online.assam.gov.in/web/durga-puja|archive-date=28 December 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with India, she became an icon for the [[Indian independence movement]].{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} The city of [[Kolkata]] is famous for Durga puja.<ref>{{cite news |date=6 August 2022 |title=Durga puja:আগমনীর ডাকে সেজে উঠেছে তিলোত্তমা শহরে এবার 'রক্তমাংসের দুর্গা' ভাইরাল ভিডিয়ো |work=The Bengali Chronicle |url=https://thebengalichronicle.com/makeup-artist-saroshi-bhattacharya-has-create-durga-with-the-help-of-her-art-mst/ |access-date=9 August 2022 |language=bn |archive-date=9 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809111316/https://thebengalichronicle.com/makeup-artist-saroshi-bhattacharya-has-create-durga-with-the-help-of-her-art-mst/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Dashain===
In [[Nepal]], the festival dedicated to Durga is called [[Dashain]] (sometimes spelled as Dasain), which literally means "the ten".<ref name="Melton2011"/> Dashain is the longest national holiday of Nepal, and is a public holiday in [[Sikkim]] and [[Bhutan]]. During Dashain, Durga is worshipped in ten forms ([[Shailaputri]], [[Brahmacharini]], [[Chandraghanta]], [[Kushmanda]], [[Skandamata]], [[Katyayani]], [[Kalaratri]], [[Mahagauri]], [[Mahakali]] and Durga) with one form for each day in Nepal. The festival includes animal sacrifice in some communities, as well as the purchase of new clothes and gift giving. Traditionally, the festival is celebrated over 15 days, the first nine-day are spent by the faithful by remembering Durga and her ideas, the tenth day marks Durga's victory over Mahisura, and the last five days celebrate the victory of good over evil.<ref name="Melton2011"/>

During the first nine days, nine aspects of Durga known as [[Navadurga]] are meditated upon, one by one during the nine-day festival by devout Hindus. Durga is occasionally worshipped as a celibate goddess, but the [[Shaktism]] traditions includes the worship of [[Shiva]] along with Durga, who is considered to be his consort, in addition to [[Lakshmi]], [[Saraswati]], [[Ganesha]] and [[Kartikeya]], who are considered to be Durga's children by Shaktas.<ref name = "celibatemarried" >{{cite book|title=The A to Z of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xU4ZdatgRysC|page=72|author=Bruce M. Sullivan|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2001|isbn=9780810840706|quote=Durga is usually regarded as a celibate goddess whose asceticism empowers her, but she may also be regarded as the consort and Sakti of Siva, depending on tradition.|access-date=3 May 2021|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415064539/https://books.google.com/books?id=xU4ZdatgRysC|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|David Kinsley|1998|p=95}} Some Shaktas worship Durga's symbolism and presence as [[Mother Nature]]. In South India, especially Andhra Pradesh, Dussera Navaratri is also celebrated and the goddess is dressed each day as a different Devi, all considered equivalent but another aspect of Durga.

===Other cultures===
In [[Bangladesh]], the four-day-long [[Durga Puja|Sharadiya Durga Puja]] is the most important religious festival for the Hindus and celebrated across the country with ''Vijayadashami'' being a national holiday. In Sri Lanka, Durga in the form of Vaishnavi, bearing Vishnu's iconographic symbolism is celebrated. This tradition has been continued by Sri Lankan diaspora.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joanne Punzo Waghorne|title=Diaspora of the Gods: Modern Hindu Temples in an Urban Middle-Class World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QBLFbfUrsDIC&pg=PA222|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803557-2|pages=222–224|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217115304/https://books.google.com/books?id=QBLFbfUrsDIC&pg=PA222|url-status=live}}</ref>